The present invention relates to improvements in casting equipment, and in particular to a novel and improved automatic centrifugal casting machine.
Conventional centrifugal casting machines are utilized for making small metal castings of ornamental jewelry and the like, these machines having one or more horizontal split rubber molds to which molten metal is fed through a central sprue to interval mold cavities, and the mold is rapidly rotated to distribute the metal into the cavities during the casting process. The molten metal may either be fed by manual operation of a ladle or crucible as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,280,434 or may be fed automatically through actuation of a valve to permit a measured amount of molten metal to flow through a nozzle into the interior of the mold as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,752,214. In both of these instances, the molten metal is gravity fed to the mold in a relatively slow process which increases the time of each molding cycle. In addition, the molten metal is not always uniformly distributed throughout the mold cavities to a degree which is required for fine, non-porous castings.